New York Mills schools on alert following unconfirmed H1N1 case
Story Created:
Oct 14, 2009 at 1:01 PM EST
Story Updated:
Oct 14, 2009 at 1:01 PM EST
NEW YORK MILLS, N.Y. (WKTV) - The New York Mills School District sent home a letter announcing it has its first swine flu case - but that may not actually be the case.
The letter also points out to parents that if you keep a child who is in good health home, then allow them to socialize with other kids at the mall or other places, they're still potentially exposed. In this case, it might have worked.
That's because New York Mills' School Superintendent says absences are actually down across the district today. Kathy Houghton also says that the case has not been confirmed as swine flu through the Oneida County Health Department. Something the health department reaffirmed.
In case of the New York Mills letter, a parent told the school that their child's physician has told them the child had swine flu. The superintendent doesn't know if the child was tested. Local healthcare officials are aware of the hype, and, borderline hysteria surrounding swine flu.
While they don't want to diminish the seriousness of any flu virus, they say the hysteria is unwarranted, "health officials have been gauging this by the way it's playing out in the southern hemisphere where they've already had winter. And this virus seems to be no more virulent than the seasonal flu has been," says Linda Kokoszki of St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
Why the hysteria? Health professionals say probably a bunch of reasons: While seasonal flu targets the elderly, H1N1 targets younger people. Also since not a lot of people have been infected, they don't have antibodies, that means more of the population could get it.
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